Sometimes magazines have an issue with the All American Award winners or new introductions for the year. I don't get any gardening magazines anymore but I got Garden Gate for years. I used to get several gardening magazines. I think the catalogs can not be believed and usually don't trust what they say. The day lilies that are really new are too expensive for me, but I have often seen old ones hyped as new in some catalogs from places that don't specialize in day lilies. I am sometimes interested in new plants but I also like to look things up to see if others have had success with them. New things don't have a track record unless they are the ones that have won trials and received awards. Often they get the awards several years after being introduced. I don't like to pay more but the Proven Winners sometimes have new things. The annuals are cheap enough to splurge on even though you are paying $3 or $4 for one little annual plant.

I haven't received any garden catalogs lately. :( They are lovely for looking and dreaming during these cold dreary days. Back when I used to get such things in the mail, I'd save a few pix from them along with plant descriptions to use in the garden club plant sale.

I hope I get to go to the Master Gardeners sale at Springfield. The plants I got there were not new but were new to me. You do have to realize that the ones called native plants may look a little like weeds. Those plants were all in one area and labeled though.

Ozark Nursery is not a big place but Gail trys new things. You can talk to them in spring about the new stuff she has ordered.

I recently bought three little expensive cherry bushes. I saw them in a catalog. They came as twigs but grew fast. I should probably try some new things in the catalogs and take a chance. Those cherry bushes are from Canada and may not do well here. They are touted as very hardy. It will take years to see if they work out but that makes it interesting.

I don't travel much now but I always drag my friend to gardens. Where ever I go I want to go to gardens and my friend is a very nice patient man who will sit on a bench and wait for me. Nothing beats seeing plants growing and looking good. The Springfield garden is a wonderful garden. Last year I saw the Black Pearl pepper there and now I want it. Powell Garden near Lone Jack is also a wonderful garden. Their wall garden by the lake is a wonder. I think that is where I decided I needed salvia.